CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Pramila Jayapal

Interview

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BLITZER: Important point. Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Joining us now, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D), WASHINGTON: Thank you, Wolf. Always great to be here.

BLITZER: Thank you. Your committee has just subpoenaed Hope Hicks, she's the former White House communications director, and Annie Donaldson. She was the chief of staff to the former White House counsel, Don McGahn, and her contemporaneous notes, by the way, feature prominently in the Mueller report.

How important is their testimony on the question of obstruction?

JAYAPAL: I think it's very important. Annie Donaldson's notes might be one of the most important things that is in the report. It is our equivalent of the Watergate tapes, in some way. But she actually documents exactly what the president said in numerous instances to Don McGahn.

Don McGahn's testimony, obviously, was very important. Hope Hicks also figures prominently. These are all important individuals who we need to hear from directly and be able to lay out exactly what happened to them, confirm, you know, what is in the Mueller report but go beyond that, as well and make sure that we have all the information that we need in order to assess the 10 specific cases, potential cases of obstruction of justice, that Robert Mueller laid out in the report.

BLITZER: As you also heard, CNN has learned that Robert Mueller is now reluctant to testify publicly before Congress for fear of appearing political. You say, and I'm quoting now, you say, "We have to be very careful about restrictions on his testimony."

What sort of restrictions are you willing to accept?

For example, will you accept a closed-door private hearing?

JAYAPAL: Well, we really haven't -- we heard about this from you. We have not heard about this, you know, on our own through the chairman, so I have no idea what the discussions are, what Robert Mueller actually has or hasn't said.

But I think one of the key things that I was saying to Manu earlier is, you know, we cannot be in a situation where we are constrained from talking about what we hear. We cannot be in a situation where only one or two members are talking with Robert Mueller.

Nancy Pelosi has been very clear about this; Jerry Nadler has been very clear about this. We need to make sure that the public gets this information. This is a report that should have been released in its entirety to the public.

And in fact, you know, Republicans, House Republicans voted with us unanimously -- not unanimously but overwhelmingly -- to allow the Mueller report to be released. And then, all of a sudden, they're fine with the, you know, significant redactions, without the underlying information.

So we just need this to be public. We need people to be able to see what is happening and we need to be able to have a public discussion about what has happened.

What the president has done, these obstruction of justice cases that are so serious, Wolf, that I do not think that -- you know, I just don't think that we can ignore what is happening, the stonewalling that is coming from the White House.

And I'll tell you this, I do not think that the American people, Republican, independent or Democrat, want a president who is above the law. I just don't think that's true.

BLITZER: Well, you're one of the members of the Judiciary Committee, Congresswoman, calling for the chairman, Jerry Nadler, to open a formal impeachment inquiry. The House Speaker says the current strategy is working. She points out that a federal judge just upheld a subpoena for the president's financial records.

Why move toward impeachment proceedings when the court, at least in this particular case, appears to be on your side?

JAYAPAL: Well, let me say, first of all, that House Democrats are completely united on two critical things. Number one, we are going to deliver on our for the agenda people. Number two, all Democrats believe that the president cannot be above the law and that we have to hold this administration accountable. The question is --

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JAYAPAL: -- how do you do that?

And many of us that are on the Judiciary Committee have been dealing with this over and over again.

I've read the Mueller report now three times in its entirety. So we really understand exactly what is happening. Not every single member of our caucus has that same information. And so some of what's happening now is a discussion.

And I respect what Speaker Pelosi is doing. She has a very different role. She's got to lead the caucus but those of us that are in the Judiciary Committee believe that this is warranted to start an impeachment inquiry.

Of course what the courts do matter. And Judge Mehta's decision a couple of days ago was very, very important. But that can't be only thing we do. We still have to do our job and we still have to uphold the Constitution.

BLITZER: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, thanks so much for joining us.

JAYAPAL: Thanks, Wolf.

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